<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: [MUD-Dev] Room descriptions --> <!--X-From-R13: "Ybfgre, Dncu" <exbfgreNbevtva.rn.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 15:31:50 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: 11A17AA2B9EAD111BCEA00A0C9B41793EDBE38#forest,origin.ea.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, [MUD-Dev] Room descriptions</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg01283.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01285.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg01391.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg01289.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#01284">Author</A> | <A HREF="#01284">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#01284">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>[MUD-Dev] Room descriptions</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: "'<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>'" <<A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A>></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: [MUD-Dev] Room descriptions</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Koster, Raph" <<A HREF="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Sat, 26 Sep 1998 17:28:53 -0500</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> I've often seen it cited as a rule that room descriptions in muds should not impose feelings on the player or character. How do you feel about room descriptions like these? These are from an area I did for Legend which was never completed, themed around an idealized 1950s: The Mannequin Room Every step in this room raises small cloudlets of dust, dust that settles on the shelves and the haphazardly stacked boxes. It makes everything seem to move, as if you were in a geometric and ancient city. And then it is that the mannequins come alive: faces veiled, translucent silks draped across their perfect faces, hats twitching on the bald rounded heads... At night, you wonder if they turn to each other in the moonlight, and comment on each other's clothing, talk about the latest fashions from Paris, and daydream of the day when they earn legs taken from the pile of spare parts in the chest under the window... Gas Station High octane, all a-bubble and roaring' to go: the chrome here is blinding. Bright red pumps stand like overly alert waiters ready to give the gift of gas to your guzzling eight cylinders. As the sun glints off the transparent bubble plastic topping each pump, you imagine you can hear the roar of engines racing down deserted roads, riding fast and free on their tail of belching exhaust, maybe racing towards another car in a chicken race. Yet there is also a feeling of serenity here, for it is like a church. This is the place where the ghost of Henry Ford is worshipped by the teenagers, where the Holy Grail of "making out" is made possible, where the dreams of black greaser motorbikes are made. This is the stuff of heaven, with the almighty odor of gasoline, the tiny dropped blobs of car wax, and the patches of oil left to reflect infinite rainbows off the pavement. The Bestest Part of Main Street This is the bestest part of Main Street. And you can tell all the time, 'cause the smells are like sugar glazed on top of sticky buns! And the colors are the colors of tinny little wrappings painstakingly removed from chocolates. Ones just a BIT too soggy to be edible with the sort of propriety Grandma demands at the dinner table. This is the bestest part of Main Street, because right to the north is the door to Heaven! Not heaven like they say in church, 'cause they don't sell harps there, but they do have Superman and Batman and Wonder Woman even for the sissies and the girls, and of course they have every delight known to mankind, because this is the bestest part of Main Street where the CANDY store is, except on Sundays after 5pm and weekdays after 7. Then it's boring. Before the Sinclair Station~ The dinosaur logo of the Sinclair filling station is overhead. Sometimes you wish it would come alive, preferably in better colors, and would careen around the downtown area, chomping miscellaneous people and stepping on the odd automobile. Maybe the first victims would be the obnoxious letter-sweatered senior high basketball team. And maybe the dinosaur would become your friend, and let you ride on its back, and yeah right, maybe pigs can fly and maybe the higher grade kids won't be such jerks next year and maybe you'll also win the lottery and get to stay up later and be allowed to listen to the music YOU wanna listen to (the stuff that barely comes through, that plays the Southern stuff with the beat that the preachers say is sinful). North Market Street Any minute now violent criminals could burst forth from the big wooden doors on the east side of the street! Bullets could go flying, ricocheting through the air with a sound like hyperaccelerated bees, and people could shout, 'Take cover! He broke out of the handcuffs!' And then everyone would hit the ground, rolling away from the sharp retorts of gunfire, hiding behind the scant protection of parked cars! And a bullhorn would come out, and the police chief would say something cool and harsh like, 'Come out with your hands up! You can't possibly escape. Don't make us return fire!' even while he gestured with his hands to send YOU forward to carefully walk along the edge of the building, to reduce the escapee to a quivering mass of fear with a single karate chop to the wrist! It could happen! It could! Maybe! The Candy Store~ Gumballs, bottom right. Chewing gum, first box with and second box without baseball cards. Milk duds. Lollipops for the little ones. Hard orange candy that stings your tongue when you suck on it too long. French creams. Necco wafers. Wax lips you can wear or eat. Rock candy that looks fresh-carved from a cave in the heart of Africa. Peppermint sticks to stick in lemons, up on the counter 'cause otherwise people would throw the lemons around. Red hots. Bazooka bubble gum for a penny, with the cartoons that are usually funny. Superman comics but that's boring 'cause he always wins anyway. Apples and oranges and ripe peaches with more fuzz on their cheeks than something that young has a right to. Oh! And the soda fountain with syrup and malteds and fizzy water and ice cream and floats and root beer and Coca-Cola and cherries and sarsaparillas and big curly straws and stools that spin ALL the way around and MOOooooOOM! Can't we just STAY here? -Raph </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01309" HREF="msg01309.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> J C Lawrence <claw#kanga,nu></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01306" HREF="msg01306.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Travis Casey <efindel#polaris,net></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01292" HREF="msg01292.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Orion Henry <orionz#ix,netcom.com></li></ul> <li><strong><A NAME="01289" HREF="msg01289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Caliban Tiresias Darklock <caliban#darklock,com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01283.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Ugh, IS Diablo a mud?</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01285.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Unix is a mud (Re: Ugh, IS Diablo a mud?)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01391.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg01289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#01284"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#01284"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="01389" HREF="msg01389.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 30 Sep 1998, 22:47 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01393" HREF="msg01393.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Adam Wiggins <a href="mailto:adam#angel,com">adam#angel,com</a>, Thu 01 Oct 1998, 01:01 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01390" HREF="msg01390.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, S. Patrick Gallaty <a href="mailto:choke#sirius,com">choke#sirius,com</a>, Wed 30 Sep 1998, 23:15 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01391" HREF="msg01391.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Wed 30 Sep 1998, 23:35 GMT </LI> </ul> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01284" HREF="msg01284.html">[MUD-Dev] Room descriptions</A></strong>, Koster, Raph <a href="mailto:rkoster#origin,ea.com">rkoster#origin,ea.com</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 22:31 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01289" HREF="msg01289.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Caliban Tiresias Darklock <a href="mailto:caliban#darklock,com">caliban#darklock,com</a>, Sat 26 Sep 1998, 23:30 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="01292" HREF="msg01292.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Orion Henry <a href="mailto:orionz#ix,netcom.com">orionz#ix,netcom.com</a>, Sun 27 Sep 1998, 00:23 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01294" HREF="msg01294.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Raph & Kristen Koster <a href="mailto:koster#eden,com">koster#eden,com</a>, Sun 27 Sep 1998, 03:08 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="01295" HREF="msg01295.html">[MUD-Dev] Re: Room descriptions</A></strong>, Hal Black <a href="mailto:hal#moos,ml.org">hal#moos,ml.org</a>, Sun 27 Sep 1998, 03:57 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>